ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everyone

Well the USCIS have managed to update us today after a 20 day waiting period since the last I-601 Status update.

I will do my usual report with details and stats once I have reviewed the update, but I can say 3 cases were completed JustJ being one of them, and 5 more Added to Pending.

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-15 04:25:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

I'm not waiting anymore for our Visa.....but just wanted to say good luck with everything!!!!! You can always send a PM if you need to talk!!!
-Sarah


Thanks
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 14:35:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Gosh Treehugger - I can't believe it's been 16 weeks :huh: I don't blame you for wanting to get yor IR-1 and having all of this immigration junk done and dusted.... Hang in there - I sure hope you hear some good news soon!! Take care - we're all pulling for you!!! :thumbs:

Lots of Hugs (F)

Traci


I am sure we will all hear something this week.. :thumbs:

Andrew

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 14 June 2010 - 02:34 PM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 14:33:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Hahaha, thanks for cheering for us!


Your welcome... You must still always see the funny side of things, because life is serious enough to deal with. :wacko:

by the way it was good to hear that your updated info reached the Visa office so quickly.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 12:46:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

just being cheap free fireworks every year lol...


Strange that the Americans let people get married on July 4th when celebrating "INDEPENDENCE DAY" :rofl: it seems to contradict the whole meaning of the day
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 12:40:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Well it is now 2:15pm and it is looking unlikely that we will be updated today folks... I hope I am wrong as I would have put down today (Monday) as being the best chance of an update this week seeing as it will have been 19 days now since the last I-601 Update.

I do not know what to do with myself... No Job & No updates which means no number crunching or Spreadsheet work.. :help:

If we do not get updated today then I guess they will leave it until Wednesday and make it a straight 3 weeks or 21 days or this Friday to really piss us all off, and I certainly hope after all this time waiting they do not just change the date on the update and nothing else. I would expect lots of changes to have occurred as they have had nearly 3 weeks since the last one.

I will let you know if any changes happen :yes:

Take Care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 08:25:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

well come the 4th july will be my 2nd anniversary and then will be moved from cr1 to ir1 which is one good thing that has come out of this so one less lot of money for the uscis...


Wow, that is amazing "The 4th of July" and all the American's celebrate your wedding day every year... Wow and I thought it had some sort of more deeper, meaningful, historical significance :P

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-14 08:14:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

:rofl: Your "Call of Duty" side is showing... :devil: :rofl:


True, Call of Duty or my latest game Battlefield "Bad Company 2"... I think they should make a new one called Call of Duty USCIS or Bust.. with the idea of applying for a visa, but then when you get refused you break out the weapons and shoot all those who opposed your application, maybe even strap some time bombs to the adjudicators so they have to complete the applications within a reasonable timescale or BOOM !! :devil: :P :D

Well I can only dream... shame I am a peaceful chap. :lol:

Andrew :thumbs:

USCIS DISCLAIMER: I do not condone Terrorism, have never been part of a Terrorist organization, have never lived in a communist country or walked on a farm in the last 6 months :lol:

Edited by Traci - Andrew, 11 June 2010 - 03:19 PM.

Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-11 15:15:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everyone...

Well we have waited until 9pm one hour past the latest they have updated any normal I-601 update before.

So I guess we all lose this week, so the soonest they will update us now will be Monday 14th June which will be 19 days since the last update, this is now the record, for the longest time between updates.
If Monday is missed then it should be Wednesday as that will be the 21st day or 3rd anniversary since the last update, or of course failing that it will be the Friday as that is the day they say they aim for to publish these updates which would make it 23 days between updates... this would be pathetic if they reach this timescale, this would be a new low for the USCIS to sink to.

Anyway I hope everyone enjoys the weekend, under the circumstances I doubt it, but hang on in there as all cases have to come to an end some time right?

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-11 15:11:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

:rofl: Oh what the heck, let's go for the gusto - stick me in the middle of the action wielding a short sword and spurting a whole slew of obscenities - heaven help who ever gets in my way :devil: :rofl:


Stuff the sword... lets nuke em !! :thumbs:

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-11 15:01:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

She's right - W is in fact for West London. W, SW, SE, E, N, and NW all refer to the points of the compass and are exlusive to London. The exception is S - which is not used to denote South London but Sheffield, and NE which is Newcastle. I won't bore you yet more and tell you why certain SW and W (including the embassy's post code) are unique and have an extra digit :P There's also EC and WC, East and West Central respectively, which cover a tiny and specific area of central London. There is a reason why I know all this, promise :P

So, although the embassy is in central London, it is technically in West London :)


Hey Tree

It looks like you could have a Job waiting for you in the USA as a post mistress :P It looks like you would do a better job...

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-11 15:00:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Eek, kinda thought there might be an update already, but no such luck. Poo.


Hi Julie

I have looked at the update history and times the I-601 updates that were made on Fridy's and the majority are made around 10am UK time, however they have also released one Friday update at 4:49pm and one as late as 7:19pm.

So although it is looking unlikely that they will post something today, it can still happen up to 8pm from the history of these updates, so chin up and lets hope they post something soon.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-11 07:31:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi

Well I guess the USCIS did not go for the even money favorite day of Wednesday to update, nor did they surprise us with a Thursday update? this only leaves us with Friday (tomorrow) which was the outsider bet at 5-1..

I certainly hope the USCIS give us an update tomorrow and a damn good update this time around, as they have made us all wait 16 days so far since the last update on Wednesday 26th May 2010 which has made their average completed cases drop to 1.2 cases per week on average.

In the past 9 Months since I have kept records, they have never made us wait longer than 14 days for an update to be published and when they did publish 13 - 14 days later it was normally to add new cases rather than complete any, only one time did they wait 14 days and complete 3.. lets hope that by breaking their 14 day update maximum rule for a 16 day update one that they also include quite a few completed cases this time round. :bonk: That is assuming that they update us at all this week. :crying:

Anyway I will be out and about tomorrow so I may not be able to update you on here if there is an update, so keep checking just in case I am indisposed.

Good luck everyone.. :thumbs:

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-10 17:23:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Maybe if it's the express address they can't receive packages from USPS? I price everything on usps.com and I think you can pay for the label and print it yourself, not sure.

Good luck everyone!



Nice to see some new faces posting on here.. with some useful advice

Welcome Jewel-8

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-10 15:10:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Heeheehee.

I thought it might be worth it. I found out I need knee surgery.



I think that the stonger you make your case the better chance you have, in your case Julie I would say send what you can to justify the Extreme Hardship case, but do not send in anything that could be used against you like any information about old crimes that have been lost etc etc.. it is up to the USCIS to find out all that by searching and asking for comments.. never offer anything.

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-10 15:07:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Hey Guys, I just thought I'd check in before I go. Sorry to see you're all still waiting and I hope yourcases will all be cleared up soon, I'll be thinking of you.. I got my visa back yesterday and it was an amazing sight to behold. It took six months from my interview in total. It took three months almost to the day from the waiver decision but now its all over and we can begin our lives together and the despair has already begun to fade, as it will for all of you guys, please stay strong and I will be hoping and praying for you every day and checking the site to get the good news. Thank you all again for all your support,encouragement, and good wishes. Adios for now (F)


Congratulations C2C

I am glad to hear of some positive news on here for a change, I think I can speak for Traci as well when I say it has been a pleasure chatting with you and we wish you all the luck in the world with your new life together.

We are all envious of you right now, but I think that we are all very happy that someone we know on here has managed to reach the end of the Waiver road, now comes some more interesting times ahead like what you encounter at the point of entry and which Airport you decided to use, if you could see your way to logging back on and letting us know this it will help others with knowing more about what happens next.

Anyway, best of luck and again congratulations :thumbs:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-08 09:29:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

i apologise your right no update not sure what london do half the time...


Thanks...

I thought I was going mad, as my software always lets me know within 1 to 5 minutes of an update being posted, however they have had a problem in the past where they updated but only one of the two links from the I-601 Status page worked, the other one took you to the older version? I emailed the web support guys and told them about the issue and they sorted it very quickly and even made an update happen sooner.

Anyway thanks fore getting back to me.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-07 16:20:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

there was an update to day


I can see from the website that the Status page has been updated with todays date, however both the links to the PDF file only take me to the 26th May 2010 PDF update?

Can you see the updated PDF file, if so how? and do you have the link so I can update everyone on the spreadsheet.

Many thanks

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-07 15:15:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

there was an update to day


Hi Carl

My software has not informed me of an update, so I just checked again manually now on the following link: I-601 Status Update and I get the date of 26th May 2010?

What date are you getting? and can you post the link for me to try at my end.

Thanks

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-07 15:10:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Well Monday is over now, so any of you that placed a bet on the 3-1 Monday Update just lost out :crying:

But we have the favorite to come on Wednesday at 1-1 (Even money) or the long shot on Friday at 5-1 odds...

Lets hope the Favorite comes in (Wednesday), or better still let the USCIS surprise us by updating us on Tuesday 8th :thumbs:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-07 13:18:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi

So no update for us last week :angry: , so my prediction will be an update this week on Monday 7th June (because they do this a lot if they miss a Friday) or it will be Wednesday 9th June (Because it will have been 14 days since the last update and they have not made us wait longer than that so far since October 2009) or it will be on Friday 11th June (As they try to update on Fridays where possible, so they may string out the release from maybe Wednesday to a Friday but I doubt if they would hold on to a Monday release until Friday).

Anyway these are my predictions... :thumbs:

Anyone want to place any bets on which day?

Monday..........3-1
Wednesday....1-1
Friday............5-1

That is the odds that I am giving at the moment :devil:

Take Care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-06-06 17:39:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

I volunteer to sit back and allow them to complete yours first. I have additional evidence to send it and I can't get it until June 9th. So... you first. :lol:


Thanks Julie

Lets hope the USCIS read this post and act on it..

Thanks for giving us the opertunity to go ahead of you :P

Kind Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-28 19:28:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Welcome back Julie (AKA JustJ)

Sorry to hear about your roller coaster ride, lets hope they start to get rid of some more of the Under Review cases and start to approve them.

I think that they will update us next on Wednesday 2nd June or Friday 4th June.. and based on the last time they completed 7 cases they completed 3 the following week, lets hope they follow their own pattern.

Anyway remember that we are on here to support each other, so vent away.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-28 19:18:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Sorry that you guys didn't get any updates...although now that your case is close to being one of the longest, maybe it's really close that they will make a decision? Here's to good news on Friday :thumbs:


Thanks.. I hope you are right.

It is hard to do this and watch our case be the longest case Pending, and now it looks like we are going for the title of longest time from start to finish and even that would not be to bad as long as we also do not end up with the longest Under Review time as well.

Anyway thanks for your thoughts and comments as usual they are always welcome.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-26 15:59:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
OK people... Here are the highlights, details & stats of this USCIS I-601 update for 26th May 2010

6 UK & Ireland COMPLETED CASES (5 cases from Under Review to Completed and 1 case from Pending direct to Completed) also 1 x Scandinavian case Completed,
The 6 x London cases are: (LND2009 624 005 / LND2009 549 015 / LND2009 529 043 / LND2009 605 022 / LND2009 779 011 / LND2009 633 007)
The 1 x Scandinavian case (STK2009 640 003)
1 x London case added to the "Under Review" pile (LND2008 843 014)

And 9.. yes 9 cases added to the Pending pile making it 35 UK & Ireland cases Pending and 5 Scandinavian cases Pending, which now totals a whopping 40 cases and only 2 people to deal with them all...

This was a very exciting update for the 16 people involved that were being added, moved or completed however it was a very disappointing update for most of us on the Visa Journey website as we were the non movers, in fact one of the oldest cases that had been waiting for 219 days was at last completed, this now makes our case the second oldest at 196 days with the number one spot at 220 days so far.

The details of all the changes have been recorded on the spreadsheet which you can download from here: > I-601 Status Spreadsheet 26th May 2010

Well I guess that is it for this week, I hope I am wrong and that they still try and update us one more time on Friday before the Bank Holiday.

Anyway congratulations to all those people that managed to get a completed status today and a big welcome to all the 9 new cases that were also added.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-26 12:35:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
I-601 Updated Today Wednesday 26th May 2010

Hi Everyone

We have an update today which now contains completed cases...

I will post a full update in a few minutes.

Regards

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-26 11:11:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Come on Julie AKA Mrs JustJ ;)

Let us know as soon as you get an answer after phoning the consulate or DHS as we are all waiting for your good news (Hopefully) :thumbs:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-25 03:35:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Thanks, Tree! I won't go buying the 100 lb. bag of spuds just yet. :rofl: Maybe they send it all back & then the denial letter goes out. I can't seem to find anything one way or the other. Or, maybe they sent it back because they expect us to file something else, or provide something. I guess we really don't know. It's scary that the list doesn't show it as completed. That makes me think maybe they did send it back to Dublin to get something fixed, or to request more information.


Thanks! Would be good to know. It seems a pretty easy question, but I have searched online & can find no answers.


Hi Julie

I would have thought that they would have done that whilst you are still pending? because the Pending Status is supposed to be the documentation being gathered, the Under Review part of the procedure should be once they have all the completed paperwork and info ready to pass on to the adjudicator, so that the only thing he needs to do is adjudicate and only ask for more info if he/she feels that something is lacking.. well that is my interpretation anyway.

Keep your spirits up, you will know soon.

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-22 18:44:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Foraging about and found this wording on the Athens consulate website:

FORM I-601 - APPLICATION FOR A WAIVER OF GROUND OF INADMISSIBILITY

Some persons who have been found ineligible for an immigrant visa under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) may file an Application for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility (Form I-601). Findings of ineligibility are made by a Consular Officer during an immigrant visa interview. This application and evidence of extreme hardship are filed with the Consular Officer at the Embassy where the beneficiary of the petition applied for the visa.

The Consular Officer forwards the form and supporting documentation to the USCIS office with jurisdiction to adjudicate the application. If the application is approved, USCIS sends approval notification to the appropriate Embassy to issue the visa. If the application is denied, the applicant will be notified in writing of the decision and the visa will not be issued.



Sounds encouraging !!

Lets hope that they go by the wording... ;)

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-22 11:01:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Thanks! To be honest, I'm scared to death. I probably wouldn't have made the call anyway. I don't think I could handle it. Today, after my congressman's office called, I was so shook up that I couldn't breathe, couldn't even remember my husband's phone number! They were really worried about me at work, and people came running. It felt like I had left my own body there for a while - floated somewhere outside myself. I'm not sure how I'm going to pick up the phone when my Congressman's office calls again next week with news.

As for the strength of our waiver? I dunno. I told the truth, and it'll have to be good enough. If not? Well, I'll just have to deal with what comes. I cannot-WILL not-leave my 72-yr old mother vulnerable. She is entering a time in her life when she should feel secure, and without me, she won't. She cared for me, and she guided my dad through his Alzheimer's (at home!), and I will not slam her into a cold facility to be "cared" for by strangers. The poor woman has suffered the same immigration anxiety that I have over the past several years. I feel terrible about that, as I'm the one who married a foreign man, not her. But my security and hers are tangled up together in this big mess. One big Irishman in our lives and we'd all feel much better about our future, as he wants to help me care for her - loves her as she loves him.

I suppose everybody thinks their hardships are strong, because they're THEIR hardships. But my parents raised me to look a mile down the road & see that others are worse off, so I guess it's left me asking why I think I'm so special that I'll be granted an approval. I've been here & at I2US.net for a while now, and I've read a lot of immigration stories. When you see others' stories, and people have had to leave parents with cancer, or uproot their American citizen children to move to a third country, it engrains you with a sense of panic that doesn't go away. If *they* were denied, anybody can be. I pretty much walk around in a perpetual state of anxiety - have, in fact, for over a year.

While it's only been a year since we filed our I-130, it's actually been much, much longer since we started this whole process. We had a terrible time finding an attorney who would get moving on things. They're all about taking your retainer, but as soon as they get it, the line of communication seems to go dead. It took 6 months from our initial consultation until the papers were on their merry little way, and then we met various delays along the way. I ended up having to micromanage everything, and push and push and push! There were several problems with paperwork, etc., so I'm not even sure the fact that we used an attorney will help, as I don't have a whole lot of confidence in him.

All I can do is pray.



Hi Julie

I hope for your sake that it is good news that the file has been transfered to Dublin, Both Traci and I wish you luck and lets hope you find out more and let us all know on Monday good or bad news.

If your cases has been processed then there is hope that others may have also been completed, so we will have to look at the next update that USCIS sends our way with a microscope...

Anyway try and enjoy the weekend and update the rest of your VJ family as soon as you know more.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-22 08:21:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Andrew, thank you for that! EXTREMELY interesting and valuable information. I am grateful to you and to Mr. Heller for answering your questions.

Were you surprised that the field office only has 2 adjudicators? And one of them also serves in another capacity-director. It does put things in perspective, doesn't it? Not that it makes me feel any better, but it gives me a much clearer picture of the heavy work load that they must have.

I'd imagine since we've been waiting "under review" for so long, they have decided they need more information, and so they put our files on hold and moved some new ones up from pending. Ours will be looked at again when the information comes in. Just wish I knew what it was they were waiting for. Ours should be fairly simple - crime is over 15 years old, and we weren't officially charged with misrep. I'm not even sure we had to prove hardship, but we sent everything just in case.

So with only 2 people working, when one goes on holiday, it leaves only one.



Thanks Julie

I think that it should make us all feel a bit better knowing that there are only 2 people max that can adjudicate our cases, because before I was under the impression that a large office/embassy like London would have had about 5 or so people abale to adjudicate, therefore it was a lot harder to swallow the waiting period, however knowing that they have only 2 people and only 1 when there is a holiday or the director has to do some other duties, it now makes a bit more sense about the delays we have all encountered.

It does not make us feel great that they used to have 4 adjudicators and now they have 2, this begs the question "Why" have they reduced the staff level when they must have doubled the number of applications? but at least we can now understand a little bit more from behind the scenes.

Take care

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-21 03:25:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi everybody...

I have emailed some questions to an Immigration Lawyer (Steven D. Heller) whom is based in Brighton in the UK, he is a US Citizen and has previously worked as an adjudicator for the USCIS at the London US Embassy. So this will be as close as we can get to an insiders view of what happens behind the scenes by someone who held an adjudicators position

These are the Questions I asked along with his responses:

1. Could you please explain the process behind the scenes for “Pending”, “Under Review” & “Completed”, i.e. what happens from the time the file is recorded on the waiver list until it is completed and what is carried out at what stage in the process?

A1. As you probably know, the processing of a 601 waiver application starts with the assembly and review of the application by the Immigrant Visa Unit in the Consular Section. This can take some time. The application is then presented to USCIS. Once it is received by USCIS, it is identified as "pending."

If there is an A-file associated with a case USCIS will request to file from the US. Generally, the application will not be adjudicated whilst the A-file request is pending.

Cases are not necessarily adjudicated in the order they are received because there may be cause for delay or cause to expedite (see below). Once a case is assigned to an adjudicator, it is listed as "under review." This can take some time as some cases may required legal or factual research or additional information from the applicant.

After a final decision is made it is identified as "completed."

2. How many adjudicators work in the US London Embassy and do they do all the work or do they have other staff working for them?

A2. Currently, there are two USCIS adjudicating officers (one of whom is also the office director). They handle everything themselves (no small task, really; when I worked there we had 4).

3. Why can there be several weeks without any cases completing and yet at other times lots of cases completing in a short period, why does this occur?

A3. As every case is different, the adjudication process can vary. Some cases are easier than others. Staffing obligations, such as performing military naturalisations, addressing other pending applications, liaison activities, or the well-earned holiday can affect processing times.

4. Is there anything an applicant can do to check on the status of their case other than call the £1.50 per/min line in Scotland?

A4. Not really. See 1.

5. Is there anything an applicant can do to try to escalate a timescale issue? And if so will it prejudice their case?

A5. As with other types of applications, cases can be expedited for good cause (e.g. Health reasons). When requesting an expedite, one should be able to document the cause for special handling. There is no prejudice for requesting an expedite, but if it were based on fraud, that would be a negative discretionary factor (see my article).

6. What is the normal I-601 waiver timescale for a case with a few minor and over 25 years old CIMT’s and a immigration fraud charge for not ticking the yes box on the Visa Waiver form for CIMT’s?

A6. There's really no baseline. A simple CIMT that occurred 25 years ago could be handled quite quickly. Once you need to establish extreme hardship, it really depends on the totality of the circumstance--and, most importantly, the hardship.

7. Are there any special dates or holidays when processing speeds up or slows down and why?

A7. Unofficially, I think there is always a desire to identify approvable cases for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

8. Is an average of 3.3 to 5 completed cases a month considered a good or bad average, and what should the average be? Is there any targets?

A8. I don't recall having any targets. Because of the unique nature of each case, and the various staff responsibilities (see 3) I think it is impossible to suggest an average.

9. Once a case is completed what reasons could there be for it to be put in to AP?

A9. AP?

10. What information does the adjudicator have to gather that takes all this time, considering that all original police records, court records and police certificate were handed over with the waiver documentation?

A10. See 1. It's really case-by-case. It could be for corroboration of a stated hardship (e.g. Availability of needed medical treatment; child custody order for previous marriage; financial information). Such delays can often be avoided if you have a decent US immigration lawyer working on your behalf. The key is the hardship to the US spouse.

I would like to backup what Steven said in his answer to question 10, If you are going to go through this waiver process, then this is probably one of the most important decisions that is life changing, therefore I would highly recommend a immigration lawyer to make sure everything is ticked, crossed and dotted in the right place otherwise it costs you time and maybe a relationship.

I can not personally recommend Steven Heller or his Immigration law practice as I have my own Lawyer based in the USA, however from first impressions Steven is someone whom communicates quickly, which is more than my lawyer does, I have to send several emails before I get an answer, he has also been a USCIS adjudicator at the London US Embassy, so whom better to represent you than someone whom knows how the USCIS adjudicators tick? anyway that is my opinion, and if you find yourself requiring a waiver then you could do a lot lot worse than use Steven Heller.. here is his details for contacting him about waivers or visa work, please do not abuse the email address for asking a whole lot of questions as his time is money and he will get fed up very quickly if everyone starts to bombard him with questions.

Steven D. Heller
US Immigration Lawyer in the UK
The Brighton Forum
95 Ditchling Road
Brighton BN1 4ST
Tel. 01273 409550
Fax. 01273 371063
Email. sheller@us-visa.co.uk

US-Visa Website


Anyway I hope the above helps answer some of your questions, these were the points that come to mind and I even tried an AP one just in case he knew.. but he did not have an answer for that.

Here is a link to the email that I sent: Questions Email

And here is the reply I received: Answers Email

Take Care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-20 08:46:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
I am glad we are all friends again !! :bonk: and that we can all come together on a united front against being separated from our loved ones. :crying:

Lets hope the USCIS :jest: can pull another update out of their pile requiring signatures for Friday :help:

Take care everyone and thanks for all the nice & positive comments (F)

Andrew :thumbs:
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-19 17:33:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

hi Guys.. you're not gonna believe this.. I can hardly believe it myself but this monring I received a call from the Embassy and my case has been approved and visa ready to be issued :dance: :dance: :dance: within days :dance: :dance: So please hang in there everyone, your day will come and you will be as happy as we are. Petition: May 2009 - interview Sept 2009 - I-212 completed March 2010. Good Luck everyone and may God be with you (F)


C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

(L) (F) :thumbs: :wow:

Lets us know your progress...

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-19 05:52:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
OK here are the highlights, details & stats of this USCIS I-601 update for 19th May 2010

NO COMPLETED CASES
1 x London case (LND2009 691 006) and 1 x Scandinavian case (STK2009 650 003) moved from Pending to Under Review
4 x London cases added to the Pending pile (LND2010 036 001 - LND2009 621 008 - LND2009 577 023 - LND2009 563 019)
1 x Scandinavian case Removed from the Pending pile (STK2009 640 003)

So this is a very disappointing update for everyone, except for the cases that were added and moved above

The details of all the changes have been recorded on the spreadsheet which you can download from here: > I-601 Status Spreadsheet 19th May 2010

Ok here are some stats for those of you who like to know how uncle Sam's USCIS :jest: are performing with your hard earned tax dollars...

Number of cases completed since October 2009 = 35
Number of cases on average completed per week = 1.2
Number of cases on average completed per month = 5
Number of days since last completed case = 27 days
Number of cases completed this last quarter (Last 3 months) = 10

The above figures show a slowdown of cases being completed, as the average over the last 7 months is 5 cases per month, however the average over the last 3 months has only been 3.33 cases per month, showing that they have slowed down the completion rate by 1.7 cases per month.

I noticed that we have our first 2010 case now showing up so I certainly hope that they will start to pickup speed again as this slowdown is very upsetting for all involved, yes there are people in AP and this is also very bad indeed, however if you look at some of the entire timescales that some people have been waiting, including their K1/K3/Waiver applications this is many years of waiting not just the average waiver time period.

We are all hurting both in the I-601 waiver and AP sections of this site, I do not think it is in anyones interest to compare waiting times or hardship, as every case is different and we never know all the facts behind each cases, we only know what people are prepared to disclose on VJ, I do not think anyone will want to say that their partner to be was a former junkie or rapist etc etc.. so I think we should just focus on our own cases, and moan to each other as needed... but the one we all have in common is that the good old USCIS :jest: and the US government are the ones to blame for keeping us apart from our loved ones.

Anyway sermon over... I hope everyone looks forward to the next update which may be Friday but is looking like the following Friday 28th May 2010.

Take care everyone :thumbs:

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-19 05:37:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi

An update has just been issued 10:10am GMT 19th May 2010

I will send details of the changes soon... but still NO COMPLETED CASES.

Regards

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-19 04:11:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

:rofl:

It's so clear how much you guys love each other :luv:


Thanks Justine+David... we do very much !!! (L)

Regards :thumbs:

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-18 19:40:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Hi Everyone

Just a quick hello from me to let you all know that I am still alive and waiting for my software application to tell me when the next USCIS update happens... :idea:

It has been 12 days so far since our last update (Friday May 7th), it looks like the USCIS may be falling back in to their bad old ways of updating us sometimes on a 2 weekly cycle, I hope I am wrong about this, but the lack of an update so far has indicated that they may only update us this Friday which will be 14 days since the last one.

Considering that the last update on the 7th May only added one new case, and the one previous to that on the 30th April only added 2 new cases, this would indicate that they should have a Sh!t load of movements and completions to post on this next update.. :clock: after all they have only completed 2 cases over the last 50 days !!! :ranting:

So no completions since the 22nd April which by Friday will be one month with NO completed cases? what the hell are they doing? :protest:

My poor wife :girlwerewolf2xn: is getting rather tired of this whole process now, as you can see by her last post.. So to try and cheer her up I explained that this waiver process is like traveling in a car and needing to go to the toilet, whilst you know you have a long way to go you can put up with the discomfort and manage to hold it in, but the closer you get to the end of your journey the body realizes this and you suffer pain and may lose control at the last few moments because your brain knows you are within minutes of a toilet.. This is similar to the whole Waiver process, whilst you know that you have weeks or months ahead of you, you can cope with the stress of waiting, but as soon as you pass what is considered the normal timescale, your body tells you it must be in the next update and each time you get disappointed you know you have to wait a week or two for the next update and surely you will be on this one...

I hate this process, I think that it can destroy the weaker relationships amongst us, lucky for me that my wife Traci is strong enough to get through this with my help, but I am sure that many other relationships fail after such a long wait, I do not know if it is what the USCIS hope for or not, but I am sure it does the USCIS some good when applicants fall apart and pull out as it will be another immigrant less in the USA. "So much for trying to reunite families"

I wish they knew how much this whole process impacted all our lives and the lives of our partners, children and relatives.. maybe then they would find a better way on dealing with these matters and offer faster processing or more information regarding the whole process with lots of updates along the way.

Anyway folks, I will let you know when the I-601 Status PDF gets updated, my software is checking every 5 minutes between the hours of 8am to 8pm every working day, this will then update me and Traci and I will update everyone on here with my usual stats and comments.

Well take care everyone and keep your chins up.. hopefully the USCIS will have to get around to completing all of our cases soon if not in this next update.. which I predict will be Friday 21st May. :thumbs:

Take Care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-18 18:50:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List
Welcome to Friday 14th May 2010 in the UK

This is normally the day when the USCIS updates the I-601 Waiver file... :rofl:

I just thought I would share a few stats with you and the USCIS :jest: to assist them with their tough job.

It has been 23 days now without any case reaching the completed stage :ranting:

In fact they have only completed 2 cases over the last 42 days :protest: which if you break it down to find out the average number of days each case has taken so far to reach the completed stage.. it would be 58 days based on 37 completed cases taking a total of 2152 days in total to complete.

However if you compare this to the USCIS's :jest: more recent activity, they have 9 open UK & Irish based cases Under Review and so far these 9 cases have been waiting 1164 days between them, giving us a current average of... wait for it... 129 days and still NOT COMPLETED !!
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-13 19:19:00
Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)The 2010 London Waiver List

Andrew, this may be a silly question, but is there any way to take the information in your spreadsheet and create a graph that shows the completions per week? I'm thinking that in order for me to provide it to my congressman's office, a picture might show what I would have difficulty describing. I'm betting that there will be many flat lines between the peaks, which might put it all in visual perspective for him.

Julie



Hi Julie

I have attached a few links to some unprotected Excel spreadsheets that show the data for New/Under Review/Completed data in 3 different ways.

Please choose which type you prefer, the data is the same but displayed in different chart types.

Chart 1 : Spreadsheet 1 (PDF Version) : PDF Chart 1
Chart 2 : Spreadsheet 2 (PDF Version) : PDF Chart 2
Chart 3 : Spreadsheet 3 (PDF Version) : PDF Chart 3

I have also made PDF files just in case it is easier than Excel for you..

Let me know what you think. :thumbs:

Take care

Andrew

No updates today?? :crying:


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news... but I doubt if they will update us now until Friday.. but hey we can still have a chat online :thumbs:

Take care

Andrew
Traci - AndrewMaleUnited Kingdom2010-05-10 13:21:00